August 21 - 27, 2017
Swachhata Samman
07
dr bindeshwar pathak special award
Dr Pathak Given Swachhata Samman Unnat Bharat Social Welfare Society organised a joint programme to honour Dr Bindeshwar Pathak and release the centenary souvenir for the Champaran Satyagraha Movement
has to live it. I request all of you to make your own contribution to keep the country clean. You should be able to say with pride that this is the cleanest place on earth, be it your home, neighbourhood or village. If you all make this mission a success, then Gandhji’s dream will bear fruit. Prime Minister Modi is the second person after Gandhiji who brought to focus the need for hygiene and toilets. I come from Bihar. Whenever I would try to talk to people about sanitation, they would ask me finish my tea before discussing the subject. How does one work with such people? But I did not accept defeat and walked my path with determination. I request all of you contribute towards Swachh Bharat so that his dream is achieved by 2019.”
ssb bureau
T
he Unnat Bharat Social Welfare Society organised the Swachh Bharat Kavi Sammelan and Swachhata Samman programme, 2017, in Indian Society for International Late VK Krishna Menon Bhavan in New Delhi. On this occasion, the Champaran Centenary Souvenir was also launched. The launching was done by Dr Bindeshwar Pathak the founder of Sulabh Sanitation & Social Reform Movement, along with Minister for Women and Child Development, Krishna Raj; BJP National Vice President Shyam Jaju; former state president of the party Satish Upaddhyay, former MLA Vijay Jolly; founder of the Happy Family Movement, Ganeshshri Rajendra Vijayji Maharaj; Rana Yashvant Singh, Managing Editor, India News, MSF Security Sanjay Nirmal, BJRNF Sanjay Jha, Chief Vigilance Officer and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association advocate PH Parikh. On the same occasion, Dr Pathak was presented the Swachhata Samman by the Unnat Bharat Society. Dr Pathak Started Swachhata Mission before the PM: Jaju Jaju said that Dr Pathak had conceived the Swachhata Mission and Toilet in Every Home Mission much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and not just that, he had started implementing it. “There is no shortage of good ideas in our country, but there is a shortage of people to implement them. Dr Pathak had not only conceived the idea but also implemented it. Which is what we have as Sulabh Shauchalaya
Shyam Jaju said that Dr Pathak had conceived
the Swachhata movement even before PM Modi, and not just conceive it, he implemented it today. I invoke everyone to lay great stress on sanitation so that we all remain healthy and strengthen the nation. I am grateful to the organizers for dedicating this programme for Swachh Bharat. Today the entire country trusts Modiji because they know that he not only conceives ideas but implements them. Today the entire world is congratulating Prime Minister Modi. Cleanliness is a reflection of prosperity: Krishna Raj The Chief Guest at the programme Krishna Raj said: “Swachhata was an idea conceived by Mahatma Gandhi. He had started the whole movement. We all know that cleanliness and hygiene is crucial for the country, but none of us did anything about it. But today, the Prime Minister of our country had picked up a broom to launch the movement in earnest. This triggered a thought in the minds of every Indian that a Swachh India alone can be a prosperous India. Today there are programmes being held across the country on the issue of swachhata. There is a social churning. This is not a new idea. Mahatma Gandhi had first said this, but even a century of the Champaran Satyagraha, the message had not reached every household. But today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached this message to every single Indian. “No idea ever dies away. It finally bears
fruit, may be after a long wait. My elder brother-like Dr Pathak had picked up this idea years ago. And he started making the Sulabh Shauchalayas across the country to help it stay clean. He has ignited a flame among the men and women of the country to stay clean. In India we have had a long tradition of cleaning up households on auspicious occasions like Diwali, Navratri and Dussehra. So cleanliness and hygiene is nothing new to India. We just have to ensure the our surroundings are clean and hygienic. The name of Unnat Bharat Society will be etched in the history of Swachh Bharat: Dr Pathak Dr Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Sanitation & Social Reform Movement, said that when the history of Swachh Bharat will be written, the name of Unnat Bharat Social Welfare Society will figure prominently in it. It is a historic connect that we started the movement to liberate manual scavengers, and give them their due place in society, from that very Champaran, where Gandhi had first ignited the freedom movement for India. I stayed for three months in Bettiah village of Champaran and for three days did manual scavenging with them to understand their true miseries. This is because Gandhiji had said that to truly understand someone’s problem, one
Champaran gave us the strength and showed road to sanitation: Rana Yashvant Senior journalist Rana Yashvant said that Champaran was a political laboratory for Gandhiji. It is Champaran that showed the path to both courage and Swachhata. He said that unless and until a person is clean in his mind, he will never be able to maintain true cleanliness. Dr Pathak tried to eradicate manual scavenging: Satish Upadhyay Satish Upadhayay said that earlier, issues like sanitation and educating the girl child were not in the Indian discourse. But after Modiji came to power one realised the seriousness of these issues. And if anyone has thought seriously against manual scavenging it is Dr Bindeshwar Pathak. Today, our mothers and sisters who earlier were manual scavengers are living with their heads held high. Modi has taken forward the mission of Gandhiji: Vijayji Maharaj Founder of the Happy Family Movement, Ganeshshri Rajendra Vijayji Maharaj reminded the audience that Gandhiji had said that God resides where cleanliness exists. “I have been making Saraswati Mandir for the past 20 years. When Modiji was Gujarat CM, we had got him to launch the Van-Bandhu programme and set up toilets in the tribal areas of the state. All the guests at the progremme were honoured by being given shawls and charkha by Dr Pathak and Unnat Bharat Social Welfare Society, Abhishek Mishra. Along with this, the poets at the occasion were also and were also given shawls and the charkha.